Supermoon Lights Up South Pole in Photo

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Soon after the 24-hour darkness of Antarctic winter descended on
the United States' Amundsen-Scott Station at the South Pole, the
crew of scientists and staff overwintering there got a
much-welcomed dose of very bright moonlight.

In early May, a
gleaming supermoon appeared — this full moon coincides with
the moon's perigee, or closest monthly pass of the Earth.

Thanks to that quirk of timing, a supermoon appears larger and
brighter than a typical full moon, and crews at the South Pole
station took full advantage of the extra light, completing as
much outside maintenance as possible.

"After weeks of walking and working in the dark, or perhaps
guided by the faint red light of a headlamp, we could all of a
sudden see what we were doing and where we were going," wrote
South Pole correspondent Sven Lidstrom in
the Antarctic Sun, a publication of the National Science
Foundation.

And although the newly built Amundsen Scott Station, a gleaming,
elevated building opened fully in 2008, offers far more comforts
than earlier South Pole stations, no human construction can fully
make up for the unending night of the frigid winter months.

Crews at Australia's Davis Station, the southernmost of that
nation's Antarctic research stations, also noted the arrival of
the supermoon, and said the extra light made it easier to move
about the compound.

"It is amazing how small things like actually seeing what you are
doing can make your day," Lidstrom wrote.